100 Dials and Runnin'

Hey, how ya doing. I'm sorry you can't get through. Just leave your name, and your number, and I'll get back to you
Ring Ring Ring - De La Soul

Imagine with me a scene that gets played out across America thousands of times a day. A man is relaxing with a cold beverage, probably something involving hops. As he lifts his beverage, a phone rings. Nonchalantly, he reaches for his cell phone. "Ah, that can wait. I'll call her back", After setting the phone to ignore, he resumes his intimate moment with his beverage. As the bottle hits his lips, the phone rings again. Looking at the phone he says "damn". Hitting ignore again, the moment with his tasty beverage is almost completely ruined. He thinks to himself "she can't call again. No, she just can't". With nervousness, the man again reaches for his drink. As sure as the sun rises every morning, the man's phone rings again. A precious moment with his beloved beverage completely ruined.

Now this may seem completely irrelevant to anything, but I challenge you to dig into your mental archive. Have you ever been interrupted from something super important by your cell phone? Of course you have. Well, there are two types of cell phone violations that I would like to discuss with you. Let's refer these as "the serial dialer" and their sidekick "text message recon".

I have to be honest with you, when I signed my cell phone contract, I didn't read the terms and conditions. (So as my brother put it in an earlier blog, I'll see ya'll on the plantation). However, there's one part of the cell phone/owner relationship that I don't quite understand. How is it that simply because I own a cell phone, I have automatically given permission to any and everyone who can dial my number to call me at any time. (Again, must be in the good T&C). Now I am not an anti-social individual, but there are occasions in which even a mild-mannered person such as myself can be pushed to my limit.


The Serial Dialer

The scenario played out earlier is the classic example of the serial dialer. A serial dialer is someone who calls frequently within a short amount of time. I'd say at least twice within 120 seconds. The reason this individual is dangerous is the fact that they mimic what is normally a special circumstance. When you receive two or three or more calls in rapid succession, what's your immediate reaction? "Oh my God, something bad has happened". Well not when a Serial Dialer has your number. See the serial dialer is aware of the fact that you're probably ignoring their phone call. So what does someone do when they really want to get you on the phone? Mimic an emergency! Ding, Ding, Ding! And how pissed off are you if you decide to answer that third phone call in 90 seconds, and the person on the the other end responds "What's Up"?

If you allow me to play amateur Psychologist, let me try and analyze the mind of "The Serial Dialer". See, when the average person makes a phone call, they may have important news to share with you, or information that they need from you. Probably no different from the Repeat Dialer. If the average person gets someone's voice mail, they either go ahead and leave a message or they hang up and figure "Ah hell, they'll see that they missed my call". It is this thought process that separates the Serial Dialer from everyone else.

When the Serial Dialer gets your voice mail, their immediate thought is probably "Damn, maybe they didn't hear the phone ring", or something of the type. So they decide that they should try you again. If that call is unsuccessful, and they get your voice mail, now they're probably upset. Again as an amateur psychologist, my interpretation is that the Serial Dialer has now been offended. The "maybe they didn't hear the phone ring" now becomes " how dare he (she) not answer my call". It is at this point and time that the Serial Dialer will try and make it their mission to achieve contact between themselves and their unwitting victim. Next is one of the Serial Dialer's tactical weapons.

Text Message Recon

It normally starts as something innocuous. Let's say a text message that comes in saying "Good Morning". Not bad. You say to yourself, "Oh, so and so was thinking about me. That's cool." So you shoot them back a text message returning the greeting. Well under normal circumstances that may be the end of the exchange. If you are dealing with a Serial Dialer, you've just allowed yourself to be victimized again.

Text Message Recon is a term that I have coined in which a person sends you a text message and once you have responded, they now know that you are in proximity of your phone. And shortly there after, the phone calls begin. Again amateur psychologist at play, text message recon is just another tool by which a serial dialer can gain access to your life. The only difference is that once you've responded to their text message, you now actually have some explaining to do if you choose not to answer the subsequent phone calls. All I can say is be very aware when responding to text messages sent by someone that's you've already deemed a serial dialer.

If this seems harsh, I apologize. We are all a product of our experiences, and to just let you know, I've always had a huge problem with Serial Dialers. It all started in the early 90's. There was a young lady who got my phone number. That's where the first problem arose. I never gave her my number! She got my number from her little sister who happened to be friends with my little brother. I guess her sister told her about me, and this chick was on fire to talk to me. So the calls started coming. My immediate reaction to this chick is "she sounds like a dude". But as normal, my problem is that I'm too nice. I should have snapped off on this chick and told her never to call again. (Its just not in my nature). So LaQuanna (her actual government) decided that I was her boyfriend. And when you have a boyfriend at the age of 14, what do you do? You call them all the time. LaQuanna would call so much that my equally mild mannered mother had to pick up the phone, and let this little girl know that she really need to stop calling my house. (Thanks moms, you were more man than I was)!

Well LaQuanna finally got the message. The phone calls tailed off. I never did actually get a chance to see LaQuanna. But as it turned out, I had a friend in high school who knew LaQuanna. Well lets just say that she informed me that the voice over the phone might have been more attractive than the rest of her. (Beaten repeatedly with an ugly stick was a term that I do believe she used in her description). As you can see, I have been victimized time and time again by serial dialers. I send this out as a word of caution to the rest of you. Serial Dialers are real.

If you're reading this and you know a serial dialer, be very careful to stay off their radar.

If you know you have potential to be a serial dialer, think of the impact you serial dialing has on the other person. If they're your friends or family, just take comfort in the fact that they're not going anywhere. You can call once! Eventually they'll return your call.

If you're already a serial dialer, get some help. Dialer's Anonymous or something.

Until next time...


Drizadre

P.S. Girlfriends/wives and mothers are always exempt from from the term serial dialer. Actually, they are the only people who have a vested interest in knowing where you are and what you're doing when you're out of their sight. You can hit me up anytime mom. Lol

Terms of Endearment

So we've all heard the saying "The big print Giveth and the small print Taketh away." Therefore, with that in mind we all know the rules: Read anything you sign thoroughly and completely. Alright I'm glad we're all on the same page, because in my line of work I come across plenty of customers that after their purchase claim "I didn't know what I was signing or I signed a blank contract." So please do not become one of these victims. But on a quick side note, if you're ever buying a house don't be like me and attempt to read in their entirety, the encyclopedia sized stack of papers you must sign at closing. Trust me, it's not worth the stares of anger and disgust the others in the room will give you. LoL. However, I was recently signing up for playstation online and noticed that I had to agree to their Terms and Conditions in order to continue playing. Well my mom happen to be present and as I clicked yes to accept the terms and conditions I said to her you know no one ever reads those. Well she laughed and said of course not it's a lot of legal jargon that really doesn't mean anything. So I thought about it and also said to her that I don't think I have ever read one either. She explained that she had read plenty before and found nothing useful or pertinent within them.

Well with that I started to think of all of the "Terms and Conditions" (T&C) that I have just so openly accepted with out reading. I know that I'm not the only one to do so either. I'm sure there are many more that do it as well, some of you on a daily basis. I mean they're every where, pretty much any website that you do any type of transactions on you will be prompted to accept the site's T&C. In fact, just today I paid my cell phone bill to T-Mobile and before I could finish processing my transaction I had to accept their T&C. Of course I like the rest of you don't have the time to sit and read all of their legal jargon so I accepted and got my confirmation # for the payment.

Well I decided to go ahead and write this blog after that transaction and in turn I actually copied the T&C from T-Mobile's website for all to read below.

Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions T-Mobile will provide you with a monthly statement of your account containing an itemized list of calls made during the billing period. You agree to review each statement you receive for any errors. If you inform T-Mobile that an error exists on your statement, T-Mobile will attempt to correct that error prior to your next statement to the extent permitted by law. T-Mobile shall bear no liability or responsibility for any losses of any kind that you may incur as a result of an erroneous statement or due to any delay in the actual date on which your account is debited. Each time you initiate a one-time payment transaction, you authorize T-Mobile to initiate an automated clearing house (ACH) debit transaction to your checking or savings account, or a charge to your check or credit card in the amount of the transaction. T-Mobile reserves the right to change these conditions at any time. Notice may be given on or with your bill or by other methods. You agree to be bound by any rules your financial institution requires for ACH debit transactions or credit card issuer requires for credit card charges. FOR MORE INFORMATION Call 1-800-937-8997

Do you agree to the TERMS AND CONDITIONS.










Although I probably should have read this before completing my payment, I of course did not. However, upon reading it now I realize although it is a lot of jargon there is something important in this agreement. "T-Mobile shall bear no liability or responsibility for any losses of any kind that you may incur as a result of an erroneous statement or due to any delay in the actual date on which your account is debited." I specifically authorized them to take the exact amount of my bill from my account. However, what if an error occurs? According to their T&C if there is an error I have until the next billing cycle to report it, and then they will "try" to fix it by the next billing cycle. However, they are not responsible for anything that happens as a result of their error. So for instance, if I only authorized $100 to be paid and they take $1000 on accident I must first catch the error and report it and then they will attempt to fix it before my next bill. But what if I had my rent due that same day? Well guess what? According to the T&C that's not T-Mobile's problem. As they said they're not responsible for any loss incurred as a result of an error on their part. So while they're trying to fix the error I'm getting a 5-Day eviction notice taped to my door. Now I know this example is extreme and I would hope that if an error such as this occurred that T-Mobile would attempt to reconcile the situation prior to it becoming a serious problem. But just in case they can't well we already know they have their bases covered legally speaking at least. Why? Because it's in their T&C.

Now I know that legally the T&C should make sense and that a reputable company such as T-Mobile would never use any trickery in their T&C. Nevertheless, I got to thinking just what if a company such as T-Mobile chose to put something in their T&C that you didn't necessarily agree with? Here's a question that is simply rhetorical but if it applies to you please feel free to answer. As a black man or woman what is the one thing that we as black people are usually leery of? No it's not the police, but that's at the top of the list too. LoL. But what I'm speaking of is somehow being put back into "Slavery."

So, what if T-Mobile (Probably Sprint in this example lol) decided that they were going to put something pertaining to slavery in their T&C? Well the thing is if you didn't read it and you clicked yes to accept there is a possibility that you may be now legally owned by T-Mobile. Now it may have been wrong of them to change the terms on you and you may think legally they have no right to make a change like this without letting you know up front. However, please look back at the T&C it does state "T-Mobile reserves the right to change these conditions at any time. Notice may be given on or with your bill or by other methods." So this means that they already let you know the terms were changing prior to you accepting the T&C. Most likely they sent it with your billing statement the previous month. But if you're like me you don't look at your bill or at least not too closely as long as it's the same amount I usually pay per month then no further investigating is needed. So most likely you didn't see nor read the new T&C agreement they sent with the bill. So, now what? Yep as low down of a trick it was, they now however own you and you're forced to work for T-Mobile answering their customer service calls. LoL.

Now I know that is an absolute extreme case and in today's times it's most likely never to happen right? Well that is at least not without Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton being on the CEO's front lawn with picket signs and a media circus. But if nothing else at least I got you thinking. Now keep in mind that big company's send thousands of jobs overseas because of the cheaper labor. So trust and believe that if they can get away with it and find a way to get people to somehow work for free they will. Hell, we don't know for sure but it may have been some shiesty T&C contract that got black people into slavery back in the day. They may have thought they were getting a sweet deal on some spices or something and the next thing you know they were on a boat headed through the middle passage. Well in conclusion all I can say is watch what you sign and or agree to even if it seems okay or like the same old thing you're used to accepting. But I'm sure just like me even after reading this blog you'll still accept the next T&C agreement you see online with no regards. So, I guess I'll see some of you all on the next boat. LoL.

(Please keep in mind as I stated I am a black man, I had to clarify that again I don't want anyone taking offense to the references of slavery in this blog. Don't worry I'm still waiting on my 40 Acres and a Mule as well. LoL)

--C-Recks--